04.02.2012                      11.Schwat. 5772                      Beschalach

Jüdische Welt:

New caucus to inform Israel's MKs about U.S. Jewish community

Ronit Tirosh inaugurates caucus after an eye-opening fact-finding mission to the U.S. shattered several of her long-held notions about Americans and their loyalty to Israel.

A newly conceived Israel-America Jewish Knesset Caucus – aimed at enhancing Israeli legislators' knowledge and understanding of U.S. Jewry – will attempt to get a handle on a vital community that some observers say is in a state of transition. But the caucus' scope could be quite broad and ultimately lead it nowhere, according to some seasoned political observers.
"This caucus has a lot of work to do," says Eytan Gilboa, a specialist on U.S.-Israel relations at Bar-Ilan University, who tied its prospects for success to questions of knowledge and policy. "Visiting and even talking is not necessarily knowing," he cautions….